Polly Holladay
Polly Holladay was a contestant on Season 2 of Hell's Kitchen. She ranked in 12th place. Personality Polly came into the competition naively believing that her long years of cooking would take her far. In reality, she was insecure about herself during her short stay, due to never attending culinary school in her life before competing. This, along with her lack of knowledge of fine dining, caused her too many problems with risotto on opening night, which led to her early elimination. Season 2 Episode 1 The twelve contestants arrived in Hell's Kitchen on a bus and were greeted by Jean-Philippe. They celebrated with some champagne glasses, got to know each other, and had a first look at the restaurant. Afterwards, Ramsay walked through the hallway, opened the dining room doors, and greeted the contestants by introducing himself and announcing that only one of them was going to win the competition. The only way that person would win though was to impress him, and asked all of them to cook their signature dishes. During the Signature Dish Challenge, Polly was the third contestant to have her dish judged by Ramsay, she revealed she cooked for most over her life, and after birthing six sons, she could handle Hell’s Kitchen. She served an undone focaccia bread with garlic dipping oil, but it was poorly received as Ramsay stated he would rather eat poodle shit, and refused to eat it. After the challenge, she was placed in the red team as Ramsay decided that the teams, for the first time, would be divided by gender. All the men in the blue team, and all the women in the red team. During prep, Polly revealed that she never went to culinary school, and had to pay close attention to what was being said so she could get the job done. During dinner service, she was on the appetizer station. On the first few tickets, she was already struggling on the appetizer station, and was helped by Rachel, Maribel and Sous Chef Mary-Ann. Her first risotto was overcooked, glued to the plate, and the mushrooms were missing. However, Ramsay was more dismayed that she produced a dish like that even with help, and asked her if she was happy to send that. She answered no, and Ramsay told her to trash it and start again, which she called demoralizing. When Ramsay asked her for a time on the refire, she said six minutes, but Sara tried to overshadow her by saying two minutes. When an annoyed Ramsay asked who was running appetizers, she said she was, and pushed Sara off her station. A hurt Sara told her not to crawl up her ass like a hemorrhoid just for trying to help. When she sent her refire to the pass, Ramsay asked her to taste it, and she said it was bland. So, Ramsay refused to serve it and asked her to start once again. An hour and a half into dinner service, she was on her fourth attempt at her first risotto, but Ramsay was fed up as they put more food in the trash bin than he has seen in ten years. So, Ramsay made her switch stations with Heather, making her the new kitchen donkey, and the latter running appetizers. She felt that by now, things were going downhill, and being nice was not cutting it. After three hours with barely any food sent, and the customers shouting, "I want my food!", Ramsay shut down both kitchens. The red team lost the service, and Heather was named the "Best of the Worst". During deliberation, Polly felt like an idiot, especially when Sara tried to overtake her on appetizers. Polly was Heather's first nominee for elimination, with Virginia being the second. During her plea, she said her maturity would outshine her lack of experience. She was eliminated by Ramsay for being the worst performer of the night, and lacking the knowledge and experience. During her exit interview, she knew that while her family would be surprised to see her back so soon, she was happy to have left being herself, instead of becoming a lying and conspiring person. Ramsay's comment: "This is a journey, and right now, we're going to hell and back, each and every week, to make sure we find the right person. And Polly? No chance!" Nomination history Trivia *She is the first ever contestant to have received the coat hanging and burning picture sequence. *She and Tom are the oldest contestants of the season, at age 43 (55/6 today). *After her appearance on the show, she returned to her previous career as a caterer, and became a food blogger for a few years. Quotes *"I've had 6 sons, I had them all naturally, and if I can endure that, Hell's Kitchen is gonna be nothing for me!" *''(After being eliminated) ''"I think my family will be surprised because they fully expected me to come here and kick some butt. I would rather be nice and lose than to be somebody who’s conniving and win." Category:Chef Category:Season 2 Category:Texans Category:12th Place